Sports

A second consecutive three-game schedule for the Waukon boys basketball team went a bit better than its predecessor, the Indians winning two of their three contests this past week to wrap up their regular season. The week began with an 82-62 loss at Decorah Tuesday, February 6 that could prove to be the difference between a lone or shared third-place finish in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings pending the Vikings’ final NEIC game at Crestwood February 13. The Tribe bounced back from that loss to finish the week with a 90-71 home win at South Winneshiek Thursday, February 8 before closing out their NEIC and regular season with a 63-55 win at New Hampton Saturday, February 10 in a game postponed by weather from the previous evening.

Waukon High School seniors Abe Schwartz and Mitchell Snitker signed their respective National Letters of Intent Wednesday, February 7 to take their football talents to the NCAA Division II level of play. Schwartz inked his commitment to Concordia University-St. Paul in St. Paul, MN, while Snitker committed to Winona State University in Winona, MN. Having played together on the same team throughout their middle school and high school careers, and ultimately helping lead the Indians to the Class 2A State Championship this past fall, the two could actually take the field together again, but on opposing teams, as both Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State play in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and are on each other’s schedule each year, with Upper Iowa University in Fayette also belonging to that same conference and being an annual opponent of each squad as well.

The Waukon girls basketball team both ended its regular season and began its postseason in victorious fashion this past week. That final win of the regular season, a 49-21 home domination of Decorah Tuesday, February 6, clinched a second-place tie for the Indians in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings with Class 4A 14th-rated Waverly-Shell Rock, a team the Indians split with during the regular season. The Indians then opened Class 3A Region 4 postseason tournament play Saturday, February 10 with a 51-32 win at home over North Fayette Valley.

For brothers that likely grew up doing a lot of the same things together, being just a year apart, qualification for the State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines together just wasn’t in the cards for Waukon wrestling siblings Tristan and Miles Hansmeier. Having each qualified for the Class 2A District 5 Tournament held at Independence High School Saturday, February 10, the two each experienced opposite results in their two matches at the tournament, senior Tristan ultimately finishing second at 170 pounds and earning his first-ever State Tournament berth and junior Miles ending up third at 138 pounds to have his season brought to a close.

Tristan Hansmeier to open State Tournament this Thursday against familiar foe from NEIC

The Waukon bowling team wrapped up its dual meet schedule for the 2017-2018 season by traveling to Tripoli to bowl against Denver Friday, February 2. The Indians earned a split in that final head-to-head battle, the Waukon girls falling by a 1909-1754 final result but the Waukon boys picking up another win, 2593-2217.

The Friday split wraps up the Indians’ dual meet season with the Waukon girls ending with a 1-8 season record and the Indian boys compiling a record of 5-4 for the season. The two teams are scheduled to bowl in a conference tournament hosted by Waterloo Columbus Saturday, February 10 before beginning Class 1A postseason tournament play Friday, February 13 at Decorah.

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The Waukon boys basketball team book-ended its past busy week of three games with a pair of losses at home, sandwiching a road win in between those two losses. The basketball Tribe’s busy week began with a split of back-to-back nights of competition against non-conference opponents, first falling at home to Spring Grove, MN, 75-64, Monday, January 29 before reversing that fortune, 79-48, for a win at MFL/MarMac Tuesday, January 30. The Indians wrapped up the week with an 84-69 loss at home to NEIC-undefeated Charles City Friday, February 2. Adding to the list of losses for the basketball Indians this past week was the confirmation that senior Mitchell Snitker will not be available for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury.

The Waukon girls basketball team completely reversed its fortune from a week earlier, bouncing back from a winless final full week of January to post nothing but wins in its two games this past week. The Lady Indians began the week with a 66-53 road triumph at Spring Grove, MN Monday, January 29 before wrapping up the week with a  54-9 record-setting win at Charles City Friday, February 2.

Tristan Hansmeier achieves milestone 100th career win with semifinals technical fall

The 2017-2018 wrestling season came to a close for all but two members of the Waukon wrestling team Saturday, February 3 at the mat Tribe’s Class 2A Sectional 10 Tournament held at Luther College in Decorah. Those two wrestlers - the brother tandem of senior Tristan and junior Miles Hansmeier - were the only two Indians to wrestle to the required top-two finish in their respective weight classes at the tournament to earn further advancement down the postseason wrestling road, pacing the Indians to 82.5 team points and a sixth-place finish in the tournament’s final team standings.

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The Waukon boys basketball team played to a split of what turned out to be its only two games played this past week, both of those coming in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play at home. The Indians completed a regular season sweep of Crestwood with an 85-77 home win Tuesday, January 23 before being handed that same fate by Waverly-Shell Rock in a 62-36 loss at home Friday, January 26. A Monday, January 22 home game with Spring Grove, MN also scheduled for this past week was postponed by winter weather to Monday, January 29.

The Waukon girls basketball team’s Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standing took a bit of a hit this past week at the hands of the only two rated teams in the conference. Facing both Class 3A top-rated Crestwood and Class 4A 14th-rated Waverly-Shell Rock within three nights of one another, the Indians ended up playing through their first winless week of the season, falling to the undefeated Cadets on the road, 63-41, Tuesday, January 23 before suffering a scoreless fourth quarter to allow a late lead to erode away to a 47-34 loss at home to the Go-Hawks Friday, January 26. A Monday, January 22 non-conference game at Prairie du Chien, WI was canceled due to winter weather conditions and will not be made up this season.